Arakawa, Slutskaya not going to Worlds (CONFIRMED BY AP)

It mentions that Cohen and B and A are going, though. WIthout the russians, can B&A win their first World Championship? Can Cohen "pull an Irina" and finally get the World gold after being the silver medallist twice? We'll see. I suppose many are right and this worlds has potential to be fairly exciting.

Poor Sasha. Can you imagine trying to skate when she knows what the press will do to her if she loses?

Well, it would be funny anyway (to me) if she STILL can't win even with this depleted field...then I'd DEFINITELY say Gold is not destined for her She'll be the true Silver Belle

So...IIRC someone asked her a question after the Olys to the extent of "will you be remembered as a skater who does great short programs but fails to bring it in the long?" and she responded with something like "I'd never let myself believe that." She's just got to put the press behind her. Maybe if she really wants to win she should be second or third after the short because I think she gets overexcited when she leads and then when the Moment of Truth arrives, she gets nervous and/or chokes, and skates "not to lose".

As far as I'm concerned, though, I don't really want her to win. I mean, look how much attention she got after a silver- I don't even want to imagine what it would have been like if she won the OGM. Enough already- when it's all said and done, she's a skater that can never pull it together when it counts most- at least in competition. With some training though she'll make a great show skater. She's got the moves to wow a crowd, definitely.

I'm predicting that's where she will go after this year if she does win worlds. She claims to "love competing", but I really don't think she does. She seems rattled out there too many times for me to say she truly enjoys it.

Poor Sasha. Can you imagine trying to skate when she knows what the press will do to her if she loses?

Poor Sasha? This has been perhaps her best year. No Michelle at US nationals and Sasha wins the gold. Heavy favorite Irina has a melt down and Sasha wins a silver even with 2 falls. No Irina and no Shizuka at worlds- she has the world championship on a platter. There is no way she can lose. Besides, the press/media were extremely kind to her after she won the silver (not gold) at the Olympics. She has been on many shows, to Hollywood, and she will be treated like an Olympic gold medallist in the years to come. This is quite different from what used to happen to Olympic silver medallists in the 1980's (Linda F., Roslyn S.), and to some extent even in the 1990's (Nancy Kerrigan, and to some extent Michelle K. who was not invited to the Oscars, IIRC).